BBC NEWS | Americas | Obama pledges Canada co-operation
In Canada's capital, Ottawa, he, Obama, said global challenges, including security, required a global response.
He did not press PM Stephen Harper on the planned pull-out of Canadian troops from Afghanistan in 2011, he said.
Mr Obama also assured his country's biggest trade partner that he would not pursue protectionist policies.
In Canada's capital, Ottawa, he, Obama, said global challenges, including security, required a global response.
He did not press PM Stephen Harper on the planned pull-out of Canadian troops from Afghanistan in 2011, he said.
Mr Obama also assured his country's biggest trade partner that he would not pursue protectionist policies.
This is what was being said in February 2008 by the news media. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama wants to make something clear: When it comes to hating NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreement — he's way out in front of his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
The North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1994. NAFTA eliminated most tariffs — or import taxes — on goods moving from one of the three countries to another. So President Barack Obama wanted to tax Canada and Mexico. The reason he hated NAFTA is because Canada was not paying or giving the United States Government any money for private factory goods. That was 2008.
What is being said in February 2009. President Obama warned on Thursday against a "strong impulse" toward protectionism while the world suffers a global economic recession and said his election-year promise to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement on behalf of unions and environmentalists will have to wait. Mr Obama stressed that nothing should disrupt the free flow of trade between neighbors.
At one time Obama even suggested that the United States might opt out of NAFTA if
the standards could not be improved to the nation's satisfaction. What changed his mind? I think I know.
The problem for Obama is that Canada is the largest single supplier of energy to the United States. Canadian oil production last year was 2.75 million barrels a day. Can you imagine what would happen to our economy, if Canada or Mexico puts a tariff or tax on their oil? And Barack Obama knows this, because about half of the oil coming from Canada is sands oil, "dirty oil."
Here is another blow to Greenpeace activists. Obama declined to characterize crude from the sands as "dirty oil" which should somehow be curtailed.
He acknowledged the sands create "a big carbon footprint" and said the United States and Canada should collaborate on ways to capture carbon and then store it to prevent greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere. I think Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, pulled President Barack Obama aside and said, "Hay Barry, Thinking about reopen negotiations on NAFTA? Think again. We hold the oil cards."
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Barack Obama NAFTA Scandal: A Smear Says Canada PM 3/3
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